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Tag: 2015

  • Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of progress in the demilitarisation of Gaza.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We have not made a formal assessment of demilitarisation of Gaza.

    We have been clear that we believe that a durable ceasefire agreement should ensure that: Hamas and other militant groups permanently end rocket fire and other attacks against Israel and that all terrorist groups in Gaza should disarm.

  • Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    Margaret Ritchie – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Margaret Ritchie on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis.

    Norman Lamb

    The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance Multiple sclerosis: management of multiple sclerosis in primary and secondary care, updated in October 2014, states that around 100,000 people in the United Kingdom have multiple sclerosis (MS). Estimates from studies on annual incidence are more uncertain, and vary between 2,500 and 6,000 newly diagnosed cases each year. About 85 out of 100 people with MS have relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) where periods of stability (remission) are followed by episodes when there are exacerbations of symptoms (relapses). About 10 to 15 out of 100 people with MS have primary progressive MS where symptoms gradually develop and worsen over time from the start, without ever experiencing relapses and remissions.

    The guidance sets out a range of initial assessments a clinician should make including testing of vision and blood tests before referral to a consultant neurologist who can confirm or exclude a diagnosis of MS, subject to investigation. The guidance makes a range of recommendations on the pharmacological and non-pharmacological management of MS. NICE has recommended a number of drugs for the treatment of MS and is currently appraising Nerventra (laquinimod) for RRMS and ilenya (fingolimod) for primary-progressive MS. In addition over 18,000 patients have benefitted from disease-modifying treatments through the MS risk sharing scheme, established by the Department in 2002.

  • Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    Ian Austin – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Austin on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the dates are of the oldest applications currently being processed by the Disclosure and Barring Service.

    Karen Bradley

    The Disclosure and Barring Service is currently processing 36 applications that were received more than 12 months ago. No case is older than 19 months.

    There are a number of reasons why some cases may take longer than others to process.

  • Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    Steve McCabe – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of existing arrangements for grandparents to have access to their grandchildren following the divorce of the parents of those children.

    Simon Hughes

    When making any decision about a child’s upbringing the court’s paramount consideration will be the welfare of the child.

    The Government believes that the existing arrangements for grandparents to spend time with their grandchildren in cases of parental dispute are effective and do not unfairly disadvantage grandparents.

    Child arrangements orders are able to deal with all the arrangements needed for a child in a single order, and that could include arrangements for spending time with grandparents where the court is considering this as an issue.

  • Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    Lilian Greenwood – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lilian Greenwood on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the value was of support provided by (a) his Department and (b) Network Rail to the Technical Strategy Leadership Group in each year from 2010-11 to date.

    Claire Perry

    The Government, and Network Rail, to further their objective of supporting a safe, reliable and efficient rail network, engage with and support a broad range of stakeholders and initiatives across Government. These include the Technical Strategy Leadership Group; Rail Delivery Group Limited; the Planning Oversight Group; and the National Task Force.

    The Department provided the following funding towards the Technical Strategy Leadership Group’s strategic research programme through a grant to RSSB which facilitates the group:

    Year

    DfT grant towards TSLG’s research programme (£m)

    2010/11

    1.25

    2011/12

    1.75

    2012/13

    3

    2013/14

    3.5

    Network Rail does not provide direct financial support to the Technical Strategy Leadership Group.

    Network Rail, between 10th August 2012 and 31st March 2014, paid £240,000 to Rail Delivery Group Limited in membership fees. For the year April 2014 – March 2015, Network Rail has paid or is due to pay £1,568,509 in membership fees. The increased fees paid by Network Rail in the most recent year are as a result of the Group assuming responsibility for policy formulation and communications on behalf of the rail industry. Network Rail provides staff to Rail Delivery Group Limited, for which it is due to charge the group £261,312.

    The Planning Oversight Group is funded and supported by Rail Delivery Group Limited and does not receive direct financial support from the Department or Network Rail. The National Task Force does not have a budget, but those who attend are drawn from the various industry members.

  • Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    Alison McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Work and Pensions

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2015-02-10.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken from an application for reconsideration of an employment and support allowance decision to a decision being made on that case was in each month since October 2013.

    Mr Mark Harper

    The latest information available is provided in Table 2.1 in the link below:

    https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mandatory-reconsiderations-of-dwp-benefit-decisions-data-to-october-2014

    “

  • Jim McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    Jim McGovern – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim McGovern on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps his Department is taking to (a) encourage firms to pay a fair wage to workers in their overseas supply chains and (b) stop other forms of exploitation of those workers.

    Jo Swinson

    The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has introduced a requirement for large listed companies to include in their Strategic Report information on human rights issues. This requirement will be further enhanced by the Non-Financial Reporting Directive, due to come into force by 2017, which specifically includes human rights due diligence and supply chains.

    In December last year, I announced support from BIS for the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark, which will assess and rank the human rights performance of 500 companies worldwide. The combination of enhanced disclosure and published assessments of company performance will provide a powerful incentive to businesses to ensure that workers in their overseas supply chains are free from exploitation and are paid fair wages.

  • Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    Lyn Brown – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Communities and Local Government

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lyn Brown on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will make it his policy to link local government finance settlements to ONS population growth figures.

    Kris Hopkins

    Parliament approved the Local Government Finance Report for 2015-16 on 10 February 2015. The settlement is fair to all; councils with the highest needs have higher spending power per household than those with lower needs.

    The focus of the settlement has deliberately changed away from keeping authorities dependent on grant, to providing them with the tools they need to grow their economies. As a result, although we took into account relative needs when setting the baseline for the new system, we have frozen this to maximise the incentive effect. All councils can benefit from the incentives for growth we have put in place – the New Homes Bonus and business rates retention.

    For example Newham’s retained income from Business Rates in 2013-14 was just under £7 million above its baseline funding level; and the authority’s own forecasts suggest it will be over £10 million above its baseline funding level in 2014-15. In addition Newham’s housing stock has increased by over 8,000 units over the period of the New Homes bonus scheme, providing a further £28 million of funding to the Borough in the years to 2015-16.

  • Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    Stephen Doughty – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Doughty on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much the advertising budget was for the Forces Help to Buy campaign in the last 24 months; and how much of that budget has been spent on (a) television, (b) newspaper, (c) online, (d) radio and (e) other forms of advertising using the phrase Forces Help to Buy in that period.

    Anna Soubry

    There is no advertising budget for the Forces Help to Buy scheme. The scheme has been communicated through routine internal channels to inform Service personnel of the support available to them.

  • Kerry McCarthy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    Kerry McCarthy – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

    The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2015-02-09.

    To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the human rights situation of the Saharawi population in Western Sahara; and what discussions he has had with the government of Morocco on this issue.

    Mr Tobias Ellwood

    We assess that there has been progress in the human rights situation. Some concerns remain and we are continuing to follow progress in these areas. My Noble Friend, Lady Anelay, raised Western Sahara at senior levels during her visit to Morocco last month. I discussed Western Sahara issues with the Moroccan Ambassador most recently in January 2015.